


Happiness Is A Burnt Cookie Cake

by stuckonstories99



Category: Marvel (Comics), Runaways (Comics)
Genre: Because Klara Prast needs more love, Fluff and Humor, Gen, I wanted to try and write something besides angst, Klara's husband is mentioned and child marriage is referenced but not in great detail, Klara-centric, One Shot, set in the 2017 comics but the gang went and got Klara, the other are mentioned in passing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-29
Updated: 2018-03-29
Packaged: 2019-04-14 14:29:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14137971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stuckonstories99/pseuds/stuckonstories99
Summary: If you were to ask Klara Prast what was one of the things that made her happy, she’d say baking. It was one of the few activities she had time to do between working at the factory, tending to her plants, and her… marital duties.Baking with Molly Hayes, though? That was something to be desired.Klara-Centric Runaways One-Shot, featuring Molly, Old Lace, and baking cookies.





	Happiness Is A Burnt Cookie Cake

**Author's Note:**

> Whoo! This is my first story in 2 years! But I wanted to try writing some fluff instead of angst, so I wrote this cute little one-shot before lunch. Enjoy ^.^ !

If you were to ask Klara Prast what was one of the things that made her happy, she’d say baking. It was one of the few activities she had time to do between working at the factory, tending to her plants, and her… marital duties.

 

Baking with Molly Hayes, though? That was something to be desired.

 

“Okay, next we need a whole stick of unsalted butter, and then…”. Molly picks up the box, squinting her eyes slightly so she can read the ingredients; Not that she was ever one to need glasses, but why the heck did they make the words so tiny? “...Some vanilla extract…”.

 

Klara, who stood on the other side of the island counter across from Molly, nodded and promptly skipped over to the refrigerator (Molly had taught her how fun and light-hearted skipping could be instead of plain old regular walking) and and pulled out the butter dish, frowning as she looked at it. 

 

“I’m afraid we only have about a half a stick”, she indicated, holding the butter dish up for Molly to see. “Should we halfen the recipe, perhaps?”

 

Molly shook her head, grunting as she stretched her arm to reach up into one of the cabinets for the vanilla extract (Chase was right, she had hit a growth spurt because she no longer needed the little green stool to reach the high stuff. It was still a bit of a struggle though).

 

“Nah, we’ll just throw some of that spreadable butter in there. Same thing”.

 

Klara looked a bit skeptical. “It’s not the same thing, or else if would have asked for it”, she said. “Besides, the spreadable butter is salted”.

 

Molly rolled her eyes. “Then we’ll lessen the amount of salt we put it. Come on, Klara, work with me here”.

 

The plant-controlling girl made a face. Nevermind that she had been cooking and baking much longer than Molly, and from an early age at that. She was in no mood to argue, however. They were just trying to have a nice time making cookies. If they didn’t turn out just right, well, Old Lace would eat them.

 

Speaking of Old Lace, the curious dino had popped her head into the kitchen a few times to see what the two youngest members were up to, as if Gertrude herself had sent the Deinonychus to check on them and make sure they weren’t turning the kitchen into a disaster zone. For the most part, they hadn’t, save for some spilt flour and some chocolate chips that had wasted out of the jar and onto the counter.

 

Klara petted the dinosaur affectionately as she passed by her and stood next to Molly, looking at the box so they could gather the remaining ingredients. “Looks like we need, brown sugar and regular sugar next. Also, it suggest walnuts, but those are optional I suppose”.

 

“Um… that’s fine I guess. I don’t think any of the guys dislike nuts in their cookies”, Molly responded, as she set the vanilla extract down on the counter besides the mixing bowl. She untwisted the screw-top to smell of it, beaming softly at the relaxing and sweet scent. 

 

“Too bad it doesn’t taste as yummy as it smells, but somehow, it always manages to make the baked goods that much better”, she remarked as she held the bottle over for Klara to sniff.

 

With all the ingredients gathered, the two girls began combining them. Molly had suggested the mixer, if only to save time, but Klara quickly shut her down by reminding her about the last time they used the mixer. Instead, they settled on doing it manually, with Molly stirring while Klara added the wet and dry ingredients into the large bowl.

 

Before long, Klara was pouring the cooking dough into the baking pan (they had decided to go with a sort of cookie cake instead of individual cookies) and Molly was placing it in the oven (she remembered to preheat it this time!) as Old Lace, who had returned to check up on them again, watched contently from the doorway.

 

Both girls clapped their hands together and beamed at their accomplishment. Klara leaned over the stove top to turn on the oven light. “This went far better than I expected. Perhaps these cookies, or cookie I should say, will turn out great after all”.

 

“Of course it did”, Molly declared. “With us two Master Chefs in the kitchen, nothing will go wrong!” 

 

Now it was Klara’s turn to roll her eyes as she grabbed the broom from the corner. “Whatever you say, Molly. Let’s go ahead and clean up so we won’t have to do it later”

 

____________________________________________________________________________

 

The cleanup went quicker than expected (‘because we made sure not to make a big mess this time’, Klara had said) and now all there was left to do was to wait on the cookie cake to finish.

 

“Ughhhhh, I hate this part, the waiting part!”, Molly complained as she pulled her hat over her eyes in annoyance. “Usually, the clean up takes so long that by the time we finished, the cookies are ready”.

 

“Normally, I’d say ‘patience is a virtue’, but you’re right. Perhaps we should busy ourselves with something else to pass the time”. 

 

Molly perked up at that, and idea already springing into her mind. “Okay! How about Mario Party? Or Mario Kart, or Smash Bros? Hey, maybe Victor will let us use his laptop to play Sims?”

 

“I meant something like reading or watering the plants”, Klara countered. “You know, something that won’t completely distract us and end up making us let the cookie burn”.

 

“Are you serious?! You get so enthralled in a book or in your plants, you’ll be the one who is distracted”.

 

“And we both will be distracted if we start playing video games”, Klara said, not above admitting how addictive they were and how much she enjoyed finding new ways to cheat.

 

“Come on, just one race!”, Molly coaxed. “We were supposed to have a rematch anyway. Remember last Sunday?”

 

Klara nodded, indeed remembering last Sunday. She smirked. “Oh yes, I remember. My skills were just too much for you that day”. 

 

“‘Skills?’ Is that what you call cheating now?”

 

“I was not--”, Klara began, knowing full well that she was.

 

Molly cut her off. “Only one way to find out”, she said playfully, running off to the den.

 

Klara pouted. It looked like Molly might actually get her way this time. She had a way of tricking her into doing being less responsible than she usually tended to be. But she was forever grateful to Molly and the others, for giving her a chance to enjoy her childhood and to be happy. Back then, back with Mr. Prast, she felt imprisoned. Trapped within her own hell, probably destined to die in that factory fire or be strangled by her husband for daring to protect her plants. Her only happiness back then was baking and talking to the plants.

 

Klara shuttered, not wanting to think about him, or anyone else who dared to hurt her or take advantage of her. She was surrounded by people who loved her now, and she had a best friend, no, a sister, in Molly. She had people who truly made her happy.

 

With those more positive thoughts in her mind, the young girl skipped of to the den after her hat-wearing friend.

 

____________________________________________________________________________

 

“No, no, no, NOOOOOOO!!!”

 

“Hahahaha! Yes! Victory again! That’s what? two wins for you and four for me? ”

 

“You freakin’ cheated! You totally freakin’ cheated”, Molly protested.

 

Klara pretended to be offended. “Molly! How could you ever accuse me of such a thing?” That plant that conveniently blocked Molly’s view of the tv screen just happened to do that on it’s own.

 

Molly glared at her. “You make me so mad”, she muttered, tossing the controller on the couch and slumping onto the floor.

 

Just then, Old Lace entered the room, looking almost worried about something. Perhaps she thought the girls were actually fighting and came in to check on them. ‘What, was she their babysitter now?’, Molly thought as she stood up from her place on the floor.

 

“Perhaps we should play another game”, Klara suggested, skipping over to Molly. “How about Wii sports. I really like that archery game”.

 

“Alright, let me find it”, Molly said walking over the the shelf. However, before she could pick out the game, Old Lace stalked right up to her, growling lightly and looking even more concerned, for a dinosaur anyway. 

 

“You okay, Lace?” the young girl inquired, catching Klara’s attention.

 

“What’s wrong, she looks kind of worried?”

 

Molly shook her head. “I don’t know. What’s up, Old Lace?”

 

Old Lace turned her head towards the kitchen entrance, growling again. Molly gave the dino a confused look, before also turning her head towards the kitchen entrance “I don’t get it, what…” Suddenly, the smell hit her. The smell of a cookie, a burning cookie.

 

Molly blinked. “Oh...Oh! Klara, the cookie cake!” 

 

Klara gasped, dropping her controller and making a beeline for the kitchen, with Molly and Old Lace close behind. The smell of burning cookie was much stronger now, and as Klara leaned down to peer into the over, the face she made told Molly all she needed to know.

 

Grimacing, Klara tugged on some oven mitts and opened the oven, fanning away the smoke that flew directly into her face. She gingerly pulled out the now burnt cookie cake and placed the pan on the stove. 

 

“Can any part of if be saved?” Molly inquired.

 

“No”.

 

“Oh… okay”, Molly said sadly. How could they have been so stupid as to let the time completely pass them by? They were only supposed to play once race, darn it! But one turned into two, and two into three, and so on. Molly sighed. So much for being Master Chefs. She was pretty sure Gordon-Whats-His-Face would be cursing them out right about now. 

 

“I don’t even think Old Lace will eat it at this point”, Klara remarked dryly. She quietly tossed the whole thing into the trash, and placed the pan in the sink. Old Lace went over to the trash can to inspect the discarded cookie, but one sniff of it was enough to send her away and out of the kitchen completely. 

 

“Why can’t we ever get this right?” Molly muttered sadly. “It was probably gonna be super-duper good this time, but now it’s ruined, like everything else we try to bake in this dumb kitchen”.

 

Klara smiled sympathetically. “With all due respect, I don’t think the kitchen is the only dumb thing. We were both pretty thoughtless back there”. She grinned, almost goofily “But as that silly me-me you showed me says, “Mission failed, we’ll get ‘em next time”.

 

Molly laughed at that. “You mean ‘meme’? Where the heck did you get ‘me-me’ from?!”

 

Klara shrugged. “You can’t expect me to remember how to pronounce all of those terms, can you?”

 

“Guess not. Not with the way you butcher them”.

 

“It’s not that bad!”

 

Molly laughed again, wrapping an arm around Klara’s shoulder and hugging her. “Well, you picked a good ‘me-me’ to use, for this situation. We can try again next time. I had fun though, I always do with you”.

 

Klara leaned into her embrace. “I did too. Perhaps we should find more fun things to do, besides video games and cooking. Maybe we can go to the mall and see how many free samples we can get at the food court”. 

 

“Sounds like a plan! I’ll ask Nico if we can go!” Molly said bolting off, nearly running into Old Lace in the hallway.

 

Klara smiled. She truly felt blessed to have such a beautiful friend like Molly. Even with their contrasting personalities and backgrounds, she felt truly happy being with her. She could never have felt this way back in 1907, not even back home with Mother. The biggest difference, she supposed, was that she didn’t have to wonder whether Molly and the gang really loved and cared about her. Not like with Mother.

 

“Klara! Nico said we could go, but her and Karolina are gonna tag along for chaperoning, blech!” Molly called from upstairs.

 

“Okay! I’ll get my jacket!” Klara responded back, smiling even more now as she skipped out of the kitchen and up the stairs. And to think her good mood had all started with Molly suggesting making cookies. Klara chuckled. Well, if happiness really came from making a burnt cookie cake with your best friend, than so be it. Klara wouldn’t trade it for anything else in the whole world.

 

END.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you all enjoyed it! Kudos and Comments are greatly appreciated! Thanks for Reading ^.^


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